The strength of facebook community and its effect on the brand trust and brand loyalty of university - A study of universities in Ho Chi Minh City
Abstract
Since there has been growth in internationalization of higher education, the competition among the universities become increasingly harsh, many institutions are carrying on the utilization of social media communities to attract and retain students. Out of 284 users of a university Facebook page, there was 250 valid responses investigated to find out how their identification with the university community and the university brand are related to each other. Furthermore, the investigation conducted to explore how this identification is associated with the trust and loyalty to the universities and is likely to be connected to positive behaviors such as recommending the university to their friends and other relationships as an active member of the university community. The final results revealed that the perceived strength of the Facebook community has the positive impact on the identification with the university community which in turn positively influence trust and loyalty. The challenges of competitive market of education due to the internationalization and increasing establishments of other high quality private institutions are expected to be effectively dealt with by colleges and universities.
In conclusion, the universities located in Ho Chi Minh city can gain beneficial advantage from use of social media community in enhancing the identity, trust and loyalty.